Udupi Sri Krishna Temple History
At Sri Krishna temple deity of Lord Sri Krishna is shown in fifty different forms, in different dresses. He has a diamond crown worth in crores. It is usually believed that Lord Krishna itself created a deity from a Shila – grama with the support of Vishwakarma. The other name of the god is Bala Krishna. The deity was worshiped 14 times in a day by Sri Madhvacharya.
Besides the Lord Krishna deity, there are two more deities of Garuda and Hanuma on both sides of the temple. These deities belong to Ayodhya and placed in a temple by Vaadiraja Tirtha. There is a holy tank called Madhava Sarorava Adjacent to the corridor from which devotes enter to the Sri Krishna temple.
There is an idol of Chenna Keshava seen at the entrances of the temple. The Swamiji will enter into the temple through the East after the bath in the holy tank. These doors will be closed when there will be a heavy crowd in the temple.
These doors will be open only on Vijayadashmi day; on this day, Swamiji enters from this door into the temple, and on the same day, nine sacred corns are also brought in to the temple for the fresh harvest feast. Other days these entrances will be closed, and the statue of Chenna Keshava was placed there. Towards the left, a small room will be seen. It is called an anuyaaga sale, the hall of ablation to fire – god. A golden palanquin is placed in front of the room, which was donated by the Sri Vidyapurna Thirtha Swamiji. As you turn to the west side, we can see the works of Sri Madavacharya and recite Puranas, Vedas, itihaasa by great scholars.
At Sri Krishna temple, pipers and musicians sign musical devotional songs by parsing the Lord Sri Krishna. There is another room beside Surya sale we can see all the jewelry offered to Sri Krishna from the emperors of Vijayanagar up to the king of the Mysore can be seen here.
The window is decorated by carvings showing the ten avatars of Vishnu. We can see a tiny idol of Krishna as a small boy from this window. There will be a churning road in the right-hand side and rope in left. We can see the innocent face of Lord Krishna, and this is only the idol of this kind in the whole of India.
The lamp beside the Krishna had a history of centuries it was said that this lamp is lighted by the Sri Madavacharyaand it was kept burning till this day. It was protected very well, so it should not turn off.
As per Archeological fact, it was said that the Lord Sri Krishna temple was constructed in the 13th century. A temple of Mahishasuramardini was open in the nearby area, and it leads the construction of the Sri Krishna temple. The managing trustee of Krishna temple, both Ananthrama Upadhya, veerendra Heggade, and Dharmadhikari of Dharmasthala, have played a vital role in the development and campaign of the temple in the area.
Sri Madavacharya gave sannyasa to 8 of his disciples and ordered them not only to carry out the system but also to spread the Dwaita Philosophy. All these eight mutts approved on the worship of the idol for two months rotational. The following the eight mutts
- Sri Palimar Mutt,
- Sri Admar Mutt
- Sri Krishnapur Mutt
- Sri Puttige Mutt
- Sri Sirur Mutt
- Sri Sode Mutt
- Sri Kaniyoor Mutt and
- Sri Pejavar Mutt.
Each of the Mutt was performed by temple management for two years in order. A festival named paryaya will be celebrated for every two years, at that time of paryaya the administration of Krishna Matha is handed from one Swamiji of ashta mata to other Swamiji of other ashta mathas. The administration will be toggled from Kaniyoor mutt’s vidhyavallabhatirtha Swamiji and Sodhe Mutt’s vishwavallabhatirtha Swamiji.
Epic of Lord Sri Krishna Temple Udupi
There are three main temples in Udupi they are Sri Krishna Temple, Anantheshwara, and Chandreshwara. Anantheshwara and Chandreshwara temples are the very ancient temple in Udupi.
According to the legends, it was a belief that King RamaBhoja, an enthusiastic follower of Parashurama, set up the statue of Anantheshwara, and Chandreshwara temple was constructed in the place where Chandra (the Moon) had performed a penance to get purge from the oath of Daksha Prajapathi.
So, this place is called as Udupi. (Udu = a star and pa = follower). The usual carry out in Udupi is to visit the first Chandreshwara temple, Anantheshwara temple, and then to visit Sri Krishna Temple.
The temple has many interesting and different stories regarding the installation of Sri Krishna statue in Udupi.
During Sri Vaadiraja rule in the 16th century, the adoring believer of Lord Sri Krishna called Kanakadasa visited the temple to worship Sri Krishna. Still, they did allow us to see God as he was from a lower caste. Then Lord Krishna pleased by the worship, and he created a hole to the backside of the temple wall and turned his face to the hole so that Kanakadasa can see him.
This hole is named as Kanakanakindhi, and Beautiful ChinniKrishna can be seen through Kanakanakindhi to everyone
The pond where the statue of Sri Krishna was immersed is called Madhava Sarovar, and it became very famous in the temple, and the place where statue installed become famous as Krishna Temple. It was said that the statue was established in the 13th century by Madhvacharya.
